This invention relates to a readily soluble sweetening composition containing an edible bulking agent and a dipeptide sweetening agent. More particularly, it relates to a specific method of spray drying a low bulk density sweetening composition which results in a composition having extremely rapid solubility in water and a bulk density and caloric value per unit of volume considerably less than that of sucrose.
Previous attempts to produce artificial sweeteners have involved the use of saccharins and/or cyclamates. Chief among these have been attempts to produce table sweeteners which have the appearance, behavior-in-use and sweetening intensity of sucrose per unit volume such as is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,320,074 issued May 16, 1967. Specifically, this Patent teaches a method of spray drying an aqueous solution of saccharine and/or cyclamate whereas the solution is aerated with a non-reactive, non-inflammable gas, the amount of aeration gas defining the bulk density of the final product.
Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,801 issued February 23, 1965 teaches a method of deriving a table sweetener having the desirable organoleptic properties of sucrose by spray drying a solution of an artificial sweetener such as saccharin or cyclamate, a water dispersible edible protein whipping agent, and a slurry of lactose into which a soluble gas has been introduced prior to drying. Problems have arisen with the use of these compounds, however, since the saccharins leaves a somewhat bitter aftertaste in the mouth and the cyclamates are now excluded from commercial food products as hazardous to human health.
It has recently been found that certain dipeptide compounds possess an intense sweetness level. Examples of these compounds are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,475,403 and 3,492,131. Most suitable among these compounds are the lower alkyl esters of aspartylphenylalanine wherein the stereochemical configuration is L-L, DL-DL, DL-L or L-DL. Illustrative of the lower alkyl esters are methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl, heptyl and the branched chain groups isometric therewith, with the methyl ester being the most preferred embodiment.
These dipeptide materials would appear to have great commercial applications as sweetening agents since they range up to 200 times the sweetness level of sucrose, have no discernible unpleasant aftertaste, and can be produced from naturally occurring amino acids. Problems have arisen, however, with the use of these compounds in that their rate of solution into water is markedly lower than sucrose, and that the compounds tend to decompose, losing substantially all their sweetness upon heating at temperatures above about 80.degree. C.